Reporting of current and forecast weather conditions has become one of the most important and relied-upon sources of information for many drivers in understanding and responding to hazardous driving conditions. Access to up-to-date and accurate severe weather bulletins helps a driver prepare for severe weather, plan an alternate route of travel while in his vehicle, or enables him to avoid driving altogether if the conditions are too dangerous.
Currently, a popular source of this type of driving information is the radio. Drivers tune in to local stations and receive intermittently-scheduled weather summaries for their area. While radio stations provide easy-to-understand weather reports, there is often a fairly substantial lag time between when a weather event occurs and when that event is reported over the air. Also, radio reports may not be localized to the specific road on which a driver is currently traveling. The delay can be costly to a driver who ends up in the middle of an intense thunderstorm when he could have easily altered his route upon receiving the incident information even a few minutes or seconds earlier.
Recently, more vehicles have been equipped with global positioning systems (GPS), which offer a precise depiction of the current location of the vehicle along with a representation of surrounding roads and points of interest. Most models also include audible, turn-by-turn directions to assist the driver in reaching his intended destination. Some GPS devices can also integrate limited weather information, such as radar maps, into their display. However, the data offered by GPS devices often does not display a simple message to the user as related to weather-related driving conditions.
Another drawback to the above-mentioned sources of weather information is the lack of a hazard index based on both the weather conditions, road conditions, and physical road attributes. When utilized in conjunction with weather information, road conditions and physical road attributes are a valuable factor in giving a clearer indication of the potential for hazardous driving. For example, a road facing directly toward the sun can be considered more dangerous than a road facing away from the sun. Further, a section of road composed of gravel may be considered more hazardous than a freshly-paved asphalt section. In another example, a road covered with a layer of ice or slush can be considered more dangerous than a road that is clean and dry. However, the current sources of information may not have access to road conditions data and physical road attributes data, thereby omitting a crucial factor for an accurate determination of road hazards.